Date Announced: 03 Aug 2020
Understanding Electron Multiplying Gain
Quantum Design UK and Ireland (QDUKI), distributor of high-tech scientific research instrumentation is the exclusive authorised channel sales partner of Raptor Photonics products for the UK and Ireland.
Raptor Photonics, a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance digital cameras, has a white paper featuring the Falcon III, which uses ground-breaking EMCCD – GEN III technology.
The Falcon III incorporates an EMCCD sensor developed by e2v which offers 1MP resolution with 10µm square pixels. A back-illuminated sensor offers a peak QE of >95% offering unsurpassed sensitivity with a total noise floor as low as 0.01 electrons readout noise.
EMCCD – GEN III offers the combination of ultimate sensitivity and speed through a single output amplifier thereby maximising uniformity. It is three times faster than previous generation EMCCDs with superior linearity and low gain performance. Up to 5000 x EM gain can be applied to the sensor using lower voltages resulting in reduced sensor ageing effects. The camera can be cooled to -100°C for lowest possible background events using Raptor’s long life ruggedised PentaVacTM vacuum technology.
The Falcon III will target any low light application where speed, resolution and sensitivity matter including adaptive optics, calcium imaging and fluorescence and astronomy.
Raptor VP of Sales & Marketing, Mark Donaghy comments, “EMCCD technology is well established in the market having first been released around 16 years ago. It still offers the best combination of speed and sensitivity for ultra-low light applications. EMCCD – GEN III technology takes this performance to the next level, offering the ultimate resolution, speed and sensitivity through a single output amplifier. We have worked very closely with e2v to ensure that the Falcon III camera delivers the optimum performance from this new CCD351 image sensor.”
“This family of back-thinned EMCCD cameras offers a range of resolution, pixel pitch and speed which are perfectly suited to ultra-low light imaging applications”, he continued.
Understanding Electron Multiplying Gain
Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) cameras, such as the Falcon III, can be used to detect very weak signals, which would otherwise be lost within the noise floor of the camera. Using a conventional CCD to detect these very weak signals, usually requires both long exposure times (to integrate a detectable amount of signal) and slow readout rates (to minimise the read noise). However, EMCCD cameras can detect these same signals using much shorter exposure times and higher readout rates. This is done by applying EM gain to the signal before it reaches the output amplifier of the CCD sensor, effectively reducing the read noise of the sensor by a factor equal to the amount of gain applied.
The full white paper “Understanding Electron Multiplying Gain” can be downloaded here: https://qd-uki.co.uk/understanding-electron-multiplying-gain/
E-mail: angela@qd-uki.co.uk
Web Site: www.qd-uki.co.uk
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